This is an application for supplemental funding for a SCORE Program at New Mexico State University (NMSU) at Las Cruces. A goal of NMSU is to expand research at the institution for participation by ethnic minority students who desire to pursue careers in the biomedical science disciplines. The proposed SCORE Program has as its goals: (1) To transition, within the next four years, 75% of the investigators of regular SCORE subprojects to competition for R01 funding from NIH. (2) To enhance within the next four years, the publication records of all investigators of regular SCORE subprojects, who are in their second cycle of funding, to a minimum of 33% more research manuscripts per year in peer-reviewed, refereed journals. (3) To significantly improve the capabilities of New Mexico State University to conduct biomedically relevant research through development of its core research facilities. (4) To improve the capacity of NMSU to self-evaluate, assess, and monitor the SCORE Program for the purpose of institutional self-study, program review, support of MORE Program missions, and internal improvement of research management. This application contains research proposals for 7 research subprojects and 7 pilot subprojects. Specific areas proposed for investigation include: functional genomics of symbiotic fungi; cancerous metastases; electronic conductivity and photoinduced charge transfers in DNA; inorganic chemistry models of iron (IV/V/VI) for non-heme oxidases; mechanisms of pathogenesis among symbiotic bacteria; endocrine mechanisms as determinants of obesity; Bunyaviridae virus replication; hormonal, behavioral, and cognitive synchrony in infants and their mothers; correlative studies of indices of menopause; detection and identification of pathogenic bacteria and viruses in real-time; anthocyanin biosynthetic pathways that produce anti-oxidant pigments; relationships between perceived genetic histories and actual ethnic histories as correlates of attitudes toward genetic investigations (ELSI study); and transcriptional analyses of salt-stress defenses in plants. [unreadable] [unreadable]